help for newbie

[Stefano]

Hi all,

just bought a juwel tank.
I've already made loads of mistakes.

1) I put the treatment for chlorine in the full tank rather than in the
buckets prior to putting the water in.

2) I've left the carbons in whilst doing the above (i guess this will cancel
out the water treatment).

3) I washed the gravel but when i put the water in the tank was still dirty
for two days.

4) My ammonia still reads 0, what can i do?

Fortunately I have not got fish in. I don't want any for six weeks till the
bacteria are sorted.

Any idea how i can sort the above out??

any help would be appreciated

[Lior T]

OK, im no wiz, everything i say here is based on personaly hobby
expirience -


It seems to me your missing a few things here

1. if your not planing to put fish in for a few weeks, you dont need
chlorine treatment as all the chlorine will evaporate long before then.
from my expirience with juwel's aquarium, nothing bad happened when
puting chlorine rich water in it... and i doubt any aquarium would mind
.... (can someone think of a reason why it would matter?)

2.void, due to 1.

3.this happends, no big deal, it will sink and will gradualy come out
when you do gravel vaccum, and if you dont vaccum... i doubt it will
matter much anyway...

4. give it time, a few days arnt enough, also it is recommanded to buy
a few hardy fish or plants (i prefer fish, buy a couple in a few days)
and they will help building up amonia... if your anxious, there's
bottles with amonia to speed up the process significantly, but if you
have a few weeks time i'd recommend a couple of guppy's... more fun
that way...

5.good luck, i enjoy my juwel aquaium immensly, realy well built ! and
increadibly quiet !


Stefano wrote:

>
>
> Hi all,
>
> just bought a juwel tank.
> I've already made loads of mistakes.
>
> 1) I put the treatment for chlorine in the full tank rather than in
> the buckets prior to putting the water in.
>
> 2) I've left the carbons in whilst doing the above (i guess this will
> cancel out the water treatment).
>
> 3) I washed the gravel but when i put the water in the tank was still
> dirty for two days.
>
> 4) My ammonia still reads 0, what can i do?
>
> Fortunately I have not got fish in. I don't want any for six weeks
> till the bacteria are sorted.
>
> Any idea how i can sort the above out??
>
> any help would be appreciated

[Dick]

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 21:58:00 +0100, "Stefano" >
wrote:

>
>
>Hi all,
>
>just bought a juwel tank.
>I've already made loads of mistakes.
>
>1) I put the treatment for chlorine in the full tank rather than in the
>buckets prior to putting the water in.
>
>2) I've left the carbons in whilst doing the above (i guess this will cancel
>out the water treatment).
>
>3) I washed the gravel but when i put the water in the tank was still dirty
>for two days.
>
>4) My ammonia still reads 0, what can i do?
>
>Fortunately I have not got fish in. I don't want any for six weeks till the
>bacteria are sorted.
>
>Any idea how i can sort the above out??
>
>any help would be appreciated
>
>
Leaving water in tank will allow the chlorine to evaporate, no need
for chemicals. The charcoal is not doing anything extra.

No fish, no bacteria, nothing is happening. You probably are trying
to get everything going by just having water in the tank. It doesn't
work that way. You must put fish in the tank and feed them to have
ammonia. It is fish waste that produces the needed bacteria cycle.

Don't buy any fish or plants that are expensive to start. The first
month is the worst. Once you have a bacteria cycle going, you can add
more expensive fish and plants. Better to add fish gradually rather
than overload your tank all at one shot.

Consider your tank as becoming alive. It is dead water as of now.
The starter fish must survive the transformation. As you carefully
feed the fish, their wastes will go through changes and your filter
will also become alive with bacteria. Don't think "bacteria, yuk",
bacteria do the processing of waste to eliminate the poisons.

During the change your water will become cloudy until the bacteria are
in the right balance. Overfeeding is always a danger as the extra
food rots adds to the food supply for the bacteria.

Put food flakes in a few at a time. Depending on the fish size, I
crush the flakes to fit the fish mouths. The fish will eat the
floating food and as the falling food. Don't put more food in than
they can eat without the food reaching the bottom. So, two things to
watch, are the fish still eating and is the food not reaching the
bottom?

I find that about 2 minutes is all that is needed to feed them. I
feed twice daily. Mine seem less hungry in the afternoon so I feed
them less.

dick

dick

[Flash Wilson]

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 21:58:00 +0100, Stefano > wrote:
>just bought a juwel tank.
>I've already made loads of mistakes.

I answered this in another group, please check there and
also PLEASE cross post if you are going to send identical
content to more than one group. It means replies will be
co-ordinated and people only have to read it once.

Good luck with your tank.
--
Flash Wilson
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
About me: http://www.gorge.org
About Leyton, East London: http://leyton.info

[Robert Flory]

Mid posted ....
"Stefano" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> just bought a juwel tank.
> I've already made loads of mistakes.
>
> 1) I put the treatment for chlorine in the full tank rather than in the
> buckets prior to putting the water in.
>
That's a mistake ? Those of us with pythons or similar do that all the
time.


> 2) I've left the carbons in whilst doing the above (i guess this will
cancel
> out the water treatment).
Almost everyone does that at first .... Not the end of the world.
>
> 3) I washed the gravel but when i put the water in the tank was still
dirty
> for two days.
>
Do a search for tank substrates loook for for tales of trying to not start
out with muddy water. I have one tank with a soft substrate that turns the
tank muddy everytime I pull up a plant. The fish don't mind. I use the
universal solution (short term fix) accurel F and rinse the crud off the
filters in a day.

> 4) My ammonia still reads 0, what can i do?

Lots of plants, borrow filter material from someones old tank. Last 55 I
set up never went through a cycle. I use double sponges ... started the new
tank with one new one, one old one.
>
> Fortunately I have not got fish in. I don't want any for six weeks till
the
> bacteria are sorted.
>
> Any idea how i can sort the above out??
>
> any help would be appreciated